Re: The Ken Russell Collection
Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 4:39 pm
I actually went to school with Kevin Flanagan back in the day (wm.edu)
Fuck, you're right! Ugh, this is frustrating. Thankfully, this *is* dual-format: I have a region free DVD player that handles PAL-to-NTSC conversions no problem, but I'm just been using a remote hack on my Region "A" Panasonic Blu-Ray player (looks like this might be the time to finally buy a proper Region Free one).tenia wrote:I'm reading it will be encoded in 1080i50.
Yes. And because they're heavily music-oriented (even the non-composer biopics), it obviously made sense to run them at the correct speed (and pitch).tenia wrote:I'm reading it will be encoded in 1080i50. Are these another case of "shot on film but at 25fps because it was for TV" like the Alan Clarke movies ?
Ken Russell The Great Composers
Elgar; The Debussy Film; Song of Summer
These astonishing documentaries, by ground-breaking director Ken Russell (Valentino, The Devils) were originally broadcast in the BBC TV arts documentary strands Monitor and Omnibus during the 1960s. On 28 March 2016 they will be released together on DVD and Blu-ray in a Dual Format Edition by the BFI.
Each film has an audio commentary, and in a new filmed interview, film editor Michael Bradsell talks about working with Ken Russell. Also included is rarely-seen archival footage of Sir Edward Elgar.
Elgar (1962), Russell’s tribute to the music he loved, is remarkable for its sensitive portrayal of the rise of a young musician from an underprivileged background to international fame. The Debussy Film (1965), co-written by Melvyn Bragg, is a truly experimental work that culminates in a sublimely ethereal finale. Perhaps the finest of Russell’s 1960s biographical BBC productions, Song of Summer (1968) is an immensely moving story of sacrifice, idealism and musical genius which charts the final five years in the life of Frederick Delius.
Special features
• Newly remastered and presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Land of Hope and Glory (1931, 3 mins): footage of Sir Edward Elgar conducting the LSO at the opening of the new HMV (now Abbey Road) studios
• Elgar and the Three Choirs Festival (Harold Brooke, 1929-1932, 9 mins): amateur footage of Elgar at home and at the Three Choirs Festival
• Michael Bradsell Interview (2015, 10 mins): the film editor talks about working with Ken Russell
• Ken Russell and Michael Kennedy audio commentary for Elgar (2002)
• Newly commissioned commentary by Kevin M Flanagan for The Debussy Film
• Ken Russell audio commentary for Song of Summer (2002)
• 30-page illustrated booklet with new essays by Kevin M Flanagan, John Hill, John C Tibbetts, Paul Sutton and Michael Brooke, and full film credits
Product details
RRP: £29.99/ Cat. no. BFIB1244 / Cert 12 / 3-disc set
UK / 1962 + 1965 + 1968 / black and white / English, with optional hard-of-hearing subtitles / 56 mins + 82 mins + 73 mins / original aspect ratio 1.33:1
1 x BD50: 1080/50i, LPCM 2.0 audio (48kHz/16-bit) / 2 x DVD9: PAL, 25fps, Dolby Digital 2.0 audio (320kbps)
North American would-be purchasers should note the fact that these are in 1080i50, a reflection of the fact that all these were originally shot at 25fps, and it's the best way of maintaining the correct speed (and pitch). (Although technically interlaced, the image will in fact be fully progressive.)Ken Russell The Great Passions
Always on Sunday; Isadora; Dante’s Inferno
These three spectacular documentaries by controversial director Ken Russell (Valentino, The Devils) were originally broadcast in the BBC TV arts documentary strands Monitor and Omnibus in the 1960s.
On 28 March 2016 they will be released together on DVD and Blu-ray in a Dual Format Edition by the BFI. Among the many extras, each film has an audio commentary, and in a new interview, film editor Michael Bradsell talks about working with Ken Russell.
Always on Sunday (1965), a dramatised exploration of the naif painter Henri Rousseau, sees Russell reunited with Melvyn Bragg and Oliver Reed in one of his most charming and delightful documentaries. Isadora (1966), Russell’s exuberant study of the outrageous American dancer Isadora Duncan, is probably the film that best encapsulates the director’s attitude to art and creativity. In Dante's Inferno (1967) Oliver Reed gives a smouldering performance as the Pre-Raphaelite poet and painter, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. This startling and bold film is one of the most ambitious that Russell made for the BBC.
Special features
• Newly remastered and presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Late Night Line-Up: Russell at Work (Ian Keill, 1966, 31 mins): documentary shot during the making of Isadora
• Michael Bradsell Interview (2015, 18 mins): the film editor talks about working with Ken Russell
• Brian Hoyle audio commentary for Always on Sunday
• Paul Sutton audio commentary for Isadora
• Brian Hoyle audio commentary for Dante’s Inferno
• The Paul Sutton Tapes: alternative audio track to Isadora, comprising interviews which Paul Sutton conducted with the cast and crew between 2008 and 2012
• 30-page illustrated booklet featuring new essays by John Wyver, Kevin Jackson, Christophe Van Eecke, Brian Hoyle, Paul Sutton and Michael Brooke, and full credits
Product details
RRP: £29.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1245 / Cert 12 / 3-disc set
UK / 1965 + 1966 + 1967 / black and white / English, with optional hard-of-hearing subtitles / 45 mins + 64 mins + 88 mins / original aspect ratio 1.33:1
1 x BD50: 1080/50i, LPCM 2.0 mono audio (48kHz/16-bit) / 2 x DVD9: PAL, 25fps, Dolby Digital 2.0 audio (320kbps)
All three titles look excellent (correctly presented at 25fps as originally shot; there's no speed up) and zoom way past the older SD masters we've had for way over a decade (not to mention the terrible, stuttery PAL conversion on the American set), getting sharper and more vivid as they go with Song of Summer looking especially deep and rich. The LPCM 2.0 mono audio sounds great for all three, and optional English subtitles are provided.
It should be noted that the original broadcast version of “Song of Summer” had clips of the Laurel and Hardy film “Way Out West”, but due to copyright reasons they have been replaced with scenes from the film “What Next?” directed by and starring Walter Forde. It also corrects an anachronism, as the scene supposedly took place in 1928, the year “What Next?” was released, while “Way Out West” was from 1937, a full 8 years after Laurel and Hardy started making their first talkie films.
Yes, I brought this up in 2012; the Way Out West clip was deleted from previous DVD releases and more recent BBC repeats, as discussed here. But at least Russell's opening is now reinstated with a different clip, instead of being completely eliminated.manicsounds wrote:By the way, "Song of Summer" has been slightly changed from the original broadcast:
Rewind DVDCompare reviewIt should be noted that the original broadcast version of “Song of Summer” had clips of the Laurel and Hardy film “Way Out West”, but due to copyright reasons they have been replaced with scenes from the film “What Next?” directed by and starring Walter Forde. It also corrects an anachronism, as the scene supposedly took place in 1928, the year “What Next?” was released, while “Way Out West” was from 1937, a full 8 years after Laurel and Hardy started making their first talkie films.
These two releases comprise the bulk of the feature-length pieces from 1959-70. Three others are Pop Goes the Easel (1962), which is on the Visions of Change DVD, Dance of the Seven Veils (1970), which is legally unreleasable until New Year's Day 2020, and Béla Bartók (1964), which I suspect is a rights minefield because of the volume of third-party footage that it contains. (A great shame, as it's one of my favourites, and there's a tantalising clip in the Late Night Line-Up documentary.)manicsounds wrote:Russell directed quite a few episodes of "Monitor" and "Omnibus" which would be great for future releases if possible. Have any other episodes been released on DVD previously besides the 6 on the BFI Blu-ray sets? I know the "Richard Strauss" episode won't be available for general release until the music copyright expires in 2019, so that would be something to look forward to in 3 years.
...as mentioned two months earlier in this very thread.By the way, "Song of Summer" has been slightly changed from the original broadcast:
Another note on “Dante’s Inferno” - there seems to be a mastering error: at the 34:50 mark, the image shifts down completely for a single frame. This doesn’t look like something inherent to the original film and possibly an error in the new HD master. This only lasts for a single frame and nothing like it happens for the rest of the film. The BFI has been notified about it and the review will be updated when an answer is received.
There's no good reason why not - there's almost certainly a market for it, the BFI has a pretty decent print (with far better colour than the barely watchable timecoded copy on YouTube), and the only thing preventing a release right now is the Richard Strauss Estate, whose control over the music expires at midnight on January 1st 2020 (i.e. the first day of the year after the 70th anniversary of the composer's death, in accordance with current European copyright law).M Sanderson wrote:So the Strauss film could find its way to Blu ray in a few years? Russell is our most suppressed filmmaker so this would be a crucial release.
Yes I remember you saying on Arrow's Facebook page. Glad they looked into it following a wave of very positive releases of Ken Russell's works on Blu ray and hope someone else can give it the level of attention typical of Arrow. Russell's works do seem to be in a constant state of reevaluation - not seen much positive writing on the mid-late '80s fare (Crimes of Passion notwithstanding) other than Linda Ruth Williams' work in Sight & Sound, in which Gothic receives some deserved praise - so maybe it's time...MichaelB wrote:Arrow tried to pick up Gothic for a summer 2016 release (for obvious reasons), but the rights proved intractable. Mainly because in order to justify the expense of a restoration - which, as you say, is pretty much essential - they'd need to clear both the UK and US rights, which are with different companies, and one of them is Lionsgate.